In South Carolina, the first person sentenced to death in 13 years was executed: Freddie Owens was given the lethal injection.

Owens, 46, was found guilty by a jury of killing store clerk Irene Graves during an armed robbery in Greenville in 1997.

He was executed despite his co-defendant signing an affidavit this week claiming Owens was not present at the time of the robbery and killing.

The South Carolina Supreme Court refused to stay Owens’ execution, saying the charges contradicted testimony at trial.

Owens was executed Friday evening at the Broad River Correctional Institute in Columbia, South Carolina.

At 18:55 local time (22:55 GMT), he was pronounced dead after being injected with a drug called pentobarbital. He made no final statement.

His death followed a pause in executions in the state because prison authorities were unable to obtain the drug needed for the lethal injection.

Owens was sentenced to death in 1999, two years after Graves was killed, for murder, armed robbery and criminal conspiracy.

The day after his conviction, he killed his cellmate in prison, reports CNN affiliate WHNS.

According to a report on his trial in the South Carolina daily The State, Owens was 19 when he and then 18-year-old Steve Golden held Graves at gunpoint and attempted to rob the supermarket where she worked.

Owens shot Graves after she failed to open a safe under the counter, according to Golden’s testimony at Owens’ trial.

At the time of her death, Graves was a 41-year-old single mother of three children.

Owens’ lawyers tried several times to stop his execution, including twice in September, but the court rejected all requests.

In the latest attempt, lawyers pointed to an affidavit Golden signed on Wednesday asserting Owens’ innocence.

The court denied the stay of execution on the grounds that the new affidavit was “in complete contradiction to Golden’s testimony at Owens’ trial in 1999” and also to his statement to police immediately after his arrest.

Other witnesses also testified that Owens told them he shot Graves, prosecutors said.

Opponents of the death penalty and Owens’ mother also submitted a request for clemency to the state, which was rejected by Governor Henry McMaster.

Hours before his execution, Owens’ mother said in a statement that it was “a grave injustice done to my son.”

“Freddie has maintained his innocence from day one,” said his mother, Dora Mason, according to local news channel Greenville News.

In South Carolina, prisoners can choose whether they want to die by lethal injection, electric chair or firing squad.

According to the Greenville News, Owens left the decision to his lawyer, who opted for lethal injection on his behalf.

Journalists who attended the execution said members of Graves’ family were also present.